Who among us knew that parenting would turn out to be such a challenge? Who knew that our beloved children would ignite such strong feelings, such experiences of exhaustion, such longings for someone to help? This talk will be about why parenting is such a strenuous endeavor and what simple things parents can do to help manage the stresses and strains. We'll try some ways of connecting with each other to share experience and to try out practices that many parents have found helpful.